church out at Copper Hole, and he wielded in his Moon-
stone pulpit a somewhat pompous English vocabulary he
had learned out of books at college. He always spoke
of "the infant Saviour," "our Heavenly Father," etc. The
poor man had no natural, spontaneous human speech. If
he had his sincere moments, they were perforce inarticu-
late. Probably a good deal of his pretentiousness was due

to the fact that he habitually expressed himself in a book-
learned language, wholly remote from anything personal,
native, or homely. Mrs. Kronborg spoke Swedish to her
own sisters and to her sister-in-law Tillie, and colloquial
English to her neighbors. Thea, who had a rather sensitive
ear, until she went to school never spoke at all, except in
monosyllables, and her mother was convinced that she was
tongue-tied. She was still inept in speech for a child so
intelligent. Her ideas were usually clear, but she seldom
attempted to explain them, even at school, where she
excelled in "written work" and never did more than mutter
a reply.

"Your music professor stopped me on the street to-day
and asked me how you were," said the doctor, rising.
"He'll be sick himself, trotting around in this slush with
no overcoat or overshoes."

"He's poor," said Thea simply.